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Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
Originally published over 100 years ago, LIFE AMONG THE APACHES is
John Cremony's absorbing eyewitness description of pre-reservation
Apache life and culture. Through his years in the military Cremony
fought in the war with Mexico and participated in many Indian
campaigns in the southwest deserts. In 1848 he served as Spanish
interpreter for the U. S. ? Mexico Boundary Commission where he
learned to speak Apache and subsequently wrote a glossary and
grammar of the language. Although he wrote this book with the
intent to encourage more effective military suppression of the
intimidating Apaches, this historical document has all of the
fast-paced action and excitement of a Wild West novel.
A unique six-year compilation of British rural news, interspersed
with the author's own observations on birds, mammals, fish, and
aspects of Britain's countryside today. Most rural subjects are
covered in a comprehensive snapshot of country life at the start of
the new Millenium. From December 1999 to February 2006, scores of
different issues are compressed into hundreds of bite-sized, easily
digested articles. From angling to animal rights campaigns,
foxhunting to farming, game shooting to wildlife conservation, a
diverse collection of views, comment and advice is presented. The
batty and the bizarre also get a look-in, as do the controversial
and the downright crazy. With its packed pages, A Country Pillow
Book could become a bedside companion for the rural researcher or a
useful tool for the country-loving insomniac.
Montana Curiosities brings to the reader with humor and
affection-and a healthy dose of attitude-the oddest, quirkiest, and
most outlandish places, personalities, events, and phenomena found
within the state's borders and in the chronicles of its history. A
fun, accessible read, Montana Curiosities is a who's who of unusual
and unsung heroes. This compendium of the state's quirks and
characters will amuse Montana's residents and visitors alike.
The history of Yosemite National Park is as compelling as the
waterfalls, monoliths, and peaks that have mesmerized visitors for
more than a century. But what hikers see today in the iconic
Yosemite Valley, as well as on the peaks in the high country and
within the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees, is a world away from the
place Native Americans once called Ahwahnee, and from what
gold-seekers and mountain men looked upon in the park's earliest
days. Historic Yosemite National Park is a vibrant collection of
stories about different aspects of Yosemite National Park's
fascinating history, from the conservation works of pivotal
characters such as writer John Muir and photographer Ansel Adams to
the daring exploits of rock climbers and the natural forces that
have shaped Yosemite's stunning vistas. These stories reveal why
Yosemite National Park has inspired humankind for centuries.
"The extraordinary story of how Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and Joe
Namath, his star quarterback at the University of Alabama, led the
Crimson Tide to victory and transformed football into a truly
national pastime."
During the bloodiest years of the civil rights movement, Bear
Bryant and Joe Namath-two of the most iconic and controversial
figures in American sports-changed the game of college football
forever. Brilliantly and urgently drawn, this is the gripping
account of how these two very different men-Bryant a legendary
coach in the South who was facing a pair of ethics scandals that
threatened his career, and Namath a cocky Northerner from a steel
mill town in Pennsylvania-led the Crimson Tide to a national
championship.
To Bryant and Namath, the game was everything. But no one could
ignore the changes sweeping the nation between 1961 and 1965-from
the Freedom Rides to the integration of colleges across the South
and the assassination of President Kennedy. Against this explosive
backdrop, Bryant and Namath changed the meaning of football. Their
final contest together, the 1965 Orange Bowl, was the first
football game broadcast nationally, in color, during prime time,
signaling a new era for the sport and the nation.
Award-winning biographer Randy Roberts and sports historian Ed
Krzemienski showcase the moment when two thoroughly American
traditions-football and Dixie-collided. A compelling story of race
and politics, honor and the will to win, RISING TIDE captures a
singular time in America. More than a history of college football,
this is the story of the struggle and triumph of a nation in
transition and the legacy of two of the greatest heroes the sport
has ever seen.
If parks could speak, what would they say? Historic Acadia National
Park is a vibrant collection of true stories that share different
aspects of Acadia National Park's history. From its glacial
origins, to its rising peaks near the tourist-town Bar Harbor,
Acadia has a unique and fascinating history for Down Easters and
tourists alike. Many of the tales focus on some of Maine's most
famous land formations including Pulpit Rock, Sargent Mountain
Pond, Mount Desert Rock, Otter Creek, and even the Trenton Bridge.
Learn about the people who first walked these woods and how Acadia
National Park evolved into the national treasure it is today.
History at the intersection of healthcare, labor, and civil rights.
The union of hospital workers usually referred to as the 1199 sits
at the intersection of three of the most important topics in US
history: organized labor, health care, and civil rights. John
Hennen's book explores the union's history in Appalachia, a region
that is generally associated with extractive industries but has
seen health care grow as a share of the overall economy. With a
multiracial, largely female, and notably militant membership, 1199
was at labor's vanguard in the 1970s, and Hennen traces its efforts
in hospitals, nursing homes, and healthcare centers in West
Virginia, eastern Kentucky, and Appalachian Ohio. He places these
stories of mainly low-wage women workers within the framework of
shake-ups in the late industrial and early postindustrial United
States, relying in part on the words of Local 1199 workers and
organizers themselves. Both a sophisticated account of an
overlooked aspect of Appalachia's labor history and a key piece of
context for Americans' current concern with the status of
"essential workers," Hennen's book is a timely contribution to the
fields of history and Appalachian studies and to the study of
social movements.
A well researched and intuitive study into the rise of a Yorkshire
mining town, the effects of subsequent events and crucially, the
responses of the community during the "Great Strike."
Enjoy a nostalgic look back at Allentown, Pennsylvania, during its
"Golden Age," from the late 1890s through the 1950s. During this
period, Allentown's citizens left behind their frugal Pennsylvania
German traditions to take on the social and cultural trappings of
the twentieth century. Capitalizing on a labor force swelled by an
influx of immigrants, local entrepreneurs created many new
businesses and factories. As their fortunes and aspirations grew,
these men built large mansions, hotels, and public parks. Amusement
parks sprang up, theaters were built on Hamilton Street, and
Allentown became an All-American city with an upscale future. Over
360 images of vintage postcards and memorabilia bring this exciting
time in Allentown's history to life.
Life in a castle isn't always a fairytale, as the Duchess of
Rutland vividly illustrates in her fascinating, revealing and funny
autobiography. When Emma Watkins, the pony-mad daughter of a Welsh
farmer, imagined her future, she imagined following in her mother's
footsteps to marry a farmer of her own. But then she fell in love
with David Manners, having no idea that he was heir to one of the
most senior hereditary titles in the land. When David succeeded his
father, Emma found herself becoming the chatelaine of Belvoir
Castle, ancestral home of the Dukes of Rutland. She had to cope
with five boisterous children while faced with a vast estate in
desperate need of modernisation and staff who wanted nothing to
change - it was a daunting responsibility. Yet with sound advice
from the doyenne of duchesses, Duchess 'Debo' of Devonshire, she
met each challenge with optimism and gusto, including scaling the
castle roof in a storm to unclog a flooding gutter; being caught in
her nightdress by mesmerised Texan tourists and disguising herself
as a cleaner to watch filming of The Crown. She even took on the
castle ghosts . . . At times the problems she faced seemed
insoluble yet, with her unstoppable energy and talent for thinking
on the hoof, she won through, inspired by the vision and passion of
those Rutland duchesses in whose footsteps she trod, and indeed the
redoubtable and resourceful women who forged her way, whose homes
were not castles but remote farmhouses in the Radnorshire Hills.
Vividly written and bursting with insights, The Accidental Duchess
will appeal to everyone who has visited a stately home and wondered
what it would be like to one day find yourself not only living
there, but in charge of its future.
Lochmaben is situated in the 'debatable lands' on the main route
into Scotland north from Carlisle. The area has historic
connections to the family of Robert the Bruce. This close-knit
community has lost several of its basic amenities in recent years
but the recent community buyout of the Castle Loch has been a great
success with many volunteers coming together. 'Lochmaben Voices', a
project to collect the memories of the town's residents by
recording interviews with them, was set up in 2011. The eldest
interviewee was born in the 1920s and the youngest in 2000s and the
transcriptions reflect the various accents heard in the region. For
this book, three broad categories were identified: Lochmaben, both
as a physical place and a community; personal recollections of
living in the town; memories of the town during the Second World
War, including military connections.
Shortlisted for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize 2022 for Nature
Writing - Highly Commended Winner for the Richard Jefferies Award
2021 for Best Nature Writing 'A rural, working-class writer in an
all too rarefied field, Chester's work is unusual for depicting the
countryside as it is lived on the economic margins.' The Guardian
'An important portrait of connection to the land beyond ownership
or possession.' Raynor Winn 'It's ever so good. Political,
passionate and personal.' Robert Macfarlane 'Evocative and
inspiring...environmental protest, family, motherhood
and...nature.' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground, Costa
Novel Award Winner 2021 Nature is everything. It is the place I
come from and the place I got to. It is family. Wherever I am, it
is home and away, an escape, a bolt hole, a reason, a place to
fight for, a consolation, and a way home. As a child growing up in
rural England, Guardian Country Diarist Nicola Chester was
inexorably drawn to the natural landscape surrounding her. Walking,
listening and breathing in the nature around her, she followed the
call of the cuckoo, the song of the nightingale and watched as red
kites, fieldfares and skylarks soared through the endless skies
over the chalk hills of the North Wessex Downs: the ancient land of
Greenham Common which she called home. Nicola bears witness to, and
fights against, the stark political and environmental changes
imposed on the land she loves, whilst raising her family to
appreciate nature and to feel like they belong - core parts of who
Nicola is. From protesting the loss of ancient trees to the
rewilding of Greenham Common, to the gibbet on Gallows Down and
living in the shadow of Highclere Castle (made famous in Downton
Abbey), On Gallows Down shows how one woman made sense of her world
- and found her place in it.
The book provides an overview and analysis of the witch trials in
the Scottish Borders in the 17th century. The 17th century was a
time of upheaval in Scottish and British history, with a civil war,
the abolition of the monarchy, the plague and the reformation all
influencing the social context at the time. This book explores the
social, political, geographical, religious and legal structures
that led to the increased amount of witch trials and executions in
the Scottish Borders. As well as looking at specific trials the
book also explores the role of women, both as accuser and as
accused.
This isn't a history of Forfar. Instead it gives readers an
excerpt, a sample, of what life was like on any given day of the
year in a community that has been both a traditional market town
and a major manufacturing centre for linen and jute. There is no
hierarchy in what has been chosen - World Wars are interspersed
with Church socials and cycling events, the affairs of Forfar
Athletic and Strathmore Cricket club, tennis and golf. The facts
and stories all have something to do with the town, and often its
place in national history. Along the way, the reader will probably
guess that the author is particularly interested in football,
cricket, politics and the Great War. The photographs are augmented
by period advertisements from local traders and tradesmen,
illustrating the development of the businesses - and the demands of
their customers - created by the rise of the major industries.
Now in paperback, the critically acclaimed "Yellow Dirt," "will
break your heart. An enormous achievement--literally, a piece of
groundbreaking investigative journalism--illustrates exactly what
reporting should do: Show us what we've become as a people, and
sharpen our vision of who we, the people, ought to become" ( "The
Christian Science Monitor" ).
From the 1930s to the 1960s, the United States knowingly used and
discarded an entire tribe of people as the Navajos worked,
unprotected, in the uranium mines that fueled the Manhattan Project
and the Cold War. Long after these mines were abandoned, Navajos in
all four corners of the Reservation (which borders Utah, New
Mexico, and Arizona) continued grazing their animals on sagebrush
flats riddled with uranium that had been blasted from the ground.
They built their houses out of chunks of uranium ore, inhaled
radioactive dust borne aloft from the waste piles the mining
companies had left behind, and their children played in the
unsealed mines themselves. Ten years after the mines closed, the
cancer rate on the reservation shot up and some babies began to be
born with crooked fingers that fused together into claws as they
grew. Government scientists filed complaints about the situation
with the government, but were told it was a mess too expensive to
clean up.
Judy Pasternak exposed this story in a prizewinning "Los Angeles
Times" series. Her work galvanized both a congressman and a famous
prosecutor to clean the sites and get reparations for the tribe.
"Yellow Dirt" is her powerful chronicle of both the scandal of
neglect and the Navajos' fight for justice.
The practice of ceremony offers ways to build relationships between
the land and its beings, reflecting change while drawing upon deep
relationships going back millennia. Ceremony may involve intricate
and spectacular regalia but may also involve simple tools, such as
a plastic bucket for harvesting huckleberries or a river rock that
holds heat for sweat. The Art of Ceremony provides a contemporary
and historical overview of the nine federally recognized tribes in
Oregon, through rich conversations with tribal representatives who
convey their commitments to ceremonial practices and the
inseparable need to renew language, art, ecological systems,
kinship relations, and political and legal sovereignty. Vivid
photographs illuminate the ties between land and people at the
heart of such practice, and each chapter features specific
ceremonies chosen by tribal co-collaborators, such as the Siletz
Nee Dosh (Feather Dance), the huckleberry gathering of the Cow
Creek Umpqua, and the Klamath Return of C'waam (sucker fish)
Ceremony. Part of a larger global story of Indigenous rights and
cultural resurgence in the twenty-first century, The Art of
Ceremony celebrates the power of Indigenous renewal, sustainable
connection to the land, and the ethics of responsibility and
reciprocity between the earth and all its inhabitants.
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